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76

General Breeder Chat / Re: Poor Baby :(

« on: May 12, 2012, 03:31:24 PM »

I am so very sorry for your loss. 

It is possible her birth canal is not big enough to pass an average sized kit. That happens sometimes, and is why breeders need to know to check and ensure a kit can pass safely if they choose to breed a chin. I am glad mom is okay though!
Sometimes these stuck little babies can end up with serious complications for the mom. If you should find yourself in this situation again, you may want to take your girl to a vet immediately, and you may be able to save both mom and the baby(ies) with a c section being performed.

77

Health / Re: Small Chin

« on: May 12, 2012, 01:32:09 AM »

Genetics will play a part in how big or little a chinchilla is. Being he is only 6 months old, just because he may be small now, does not mean he won't become much bigger later. Some mutations or certain lines, I guess you could say, I find are or can be slow growers too. I've had some not even start to really round out till a year to a year and a half in age. What was 600 grams at 9 months old, can and at least for me - has ended up to be as much as 900 - 1170 grams in size by age two... not with every chin, mind you, but certain ones, yes. Just depends on their genetics.

Some chins just don't stop growing even after 2 years of age. If you aren't feeling bony bones sticking out or seeing hunchback(which from the photos he looks fine for his age, but they are not the best photos), and he is given a good diet, he should be fine.

On the other end of it, although your baby does not appear to be this, sometimes you can get a dwarf chinchilla(which is a recessive mutation and all it takes is for each parent to carry one gene for to produce a dwarf.).

Sometimes people don't know it is a dwarf till full grown, because to an average person they appear like every other baby their age...till they get older and stop growing like every other baby their age. The dwarves I have seen are usually between 300 - 450 grams when full grown, and look like a 4 - 6 month old kit even as adults.

I however don't feel your baby is a dwarf, provided by the photos as the face and nose do not look like one. I am just using an example  however as to one of the many reasons a baby may not grow like other babies around them that are the same age.

78

Q & A / Re: first chin,some questions

« on: May 12, 2012, 01:24:00 AM »

The only thing I can mention that hasn't been mentioned...is when you go to pick him up, try to not corner him or just grab him (somewhat like gray rodent mentioned).

 You can take one hand and gently but firmly hold the base of the tail with your fingers, while using the other hand to scoop him up, under his feet.

Just make sure at all times when you hold him or are picking him up, that his feet are always supported by your hand.
I noticed with some new owners they don't realize that when there is no support for the feet when being held, their chinchilla will become what they may call skittish or frightened or kicking their little legs.

It's just them being afraid when the ground slides out from under their feet...so always keep their feet supported when scooping them up or picking them up.

When handling, if you use the other hand to hold onto the base of the tail, firm yet gently, this is to ensure your chinchilla will stay with you and not make a mad dash for the floor or falling by accident. I have yet to have one chinchilla not be calm when being held or picked up, if I do this and it has always worked for keeping them calm. It also works for getting them to trust you better and become familiar with you, as it is a much more calmer/relaxed way to pick them up or hold them. 

79

Web site Reviews / Re: Chin Stuff Store

« on: May 12, 2012, 01:16:25 AM »

Thanks! I did as you mentioned - since it makes perfect sense and included a category for toy parts.  Thanks for all the advice and I really do appreciate it!

80

General Chat / Re: They're Here!!!!

« on: May 12, 2012, 01:15:29 AM »

Very cute pics! Love the babies and they look to be loving all over you in the photos! 

I don't want to change the topic however, but if you look into ebonies and their history or ask old timers (those who've been around 40+ years...), they can explain it better than I ever could. I just know what I have always been told and the ebony mutations here were all bred together. Those overseas, kept their charcoals and ebonies apart, so you will see recessive charcoals mentioned that look like the typical medium ebony over here... Those recessive charcoal when bred to standards, just produce crisp white  bellied standards that carry the charcoal gene. You have to breed two charcoal carriers together or a charcoal with a charcoal carrier, in order to produce more charcoals.

I do know I personally had an ebony born out of a chinchilla, that had no ebony traceable in the first six generations of her pedigree. I had to go back further, to find one ebony carrier way back on her dad's side of the history, to figure out how come I had an every hair shiny black ebony/poss sapphire carrier born in the litter. Her sibling in the litter was a solid sapphire and the other sibling was just a standard/poss sc appearing animal (crisp white belly!) and looked the spitting image of her mom and parents. You'd never have guessed there was ebony in the background at all, till looking further back on the pedigrees of the parents. Just to give an example of how tricky the mutation is.

81

General Chat / Re: They're Here!!!!

« on: May 10, 2012, 08:53:16 PM »

As for genetics, the random/average North American ebony can be considered dominant, recessive and accumulative. At least on this side of the world.

 Many breeders back in the day, bred all the different dirty bellied ebonies together, with little consideration as to whether they were breeding recessive charcoals or dominant ebonies, etc... (You can read about all the different ebony type mutations in the US back in the day, in the Alice Kline book on Genetics, I believe.).


Luckily some places like in the UK or abroad, didn't breed all the different strains of ebonies together, and they do have their recessive charcoals apart from their ebonies.

If it sounds confusing, just think of someone who was to breed all different beiges together, recessive beiges and dominant beiges- every kind you know of or have ever heard of.
 And call that mutation just simply beige (no mention of dominant or recessive.). All bred together, all different genotypes. It's quite the genetic mess if you think about it.

It would take several generations of outcrossing strictly to standards, to figure out just which strain of ebony you have.

82

Web site Reviews / Re: Chin Stuff Store

« on: May 10, 2012, 03:16:01 PM »

Oh well, I changed the text size anyways. I just hope the site stays up and doesn't go down in the next few hours. Crossing my fingers!

83

Web site Reviews / Re: Chin Stuff Store

« on: May 10, 2012, 02:36:50 PM »

No, but I have a feeling it has to do with the sql ? something or other? I don't know for sure. They were messing in it for hours though and my website would not work at all. Pictures were gone!

I am taking your suggestions and fixing it right now though - see if it will work out okay. I sure hope so. I have been on eggshells when updating my site since that happened. 

84

General Chat / Re: They're Here!!!!

« on: May 10, 2012, 01:22:53 PM »

It's a medium ebony from what I can see. As far as I know, these days breeders kind of did away with the whole hetero and homo ebony thinking. Simply because you can get every hair shiny black ebonies out of chins who are just a standard and medium ebony. And you can also get ebonies out of standard parents that have generations of standard to standard backgrounds except maybe an ebony many generations ago that had been put in the line.

Usually the more proper way of saying it these days, is standard/ebony carrier (for a chin who is born out of a parent(s) that carries or is ebony.), light ebony for the really light dirty bellied ebonies, medium ebony for those who are darker but not as dark as the every hair shiny black ebs (which are usually called dark ebony.). Most people just use the terms of light, medium or dark to explain the ebony the have though. The ebony mutation itself is not alike to other mutations such as hetero beige or homo beige, or white mosaic, etc... it is a bit different and can be confusing to understand sometimes. 

The ebony gene itself can show up generations later in a line, when say there was only one ebony ever in the line, many generations back. I just call it tricky.  Some people of course still say hetero ebony or homo ebony for terms, and most people understand what they mean when they say that... but it's not technically true with the ebony mutation... doesn't work the same as those mutations that can be hetero (like beige) or homo (again like beige).

85

Web site Reviews / Re: Chin Stuff Store

« on: May 10, 2012, 01:14:12 PM »

Those are all good ideas. I use firefox too but the font looks normal to me and not too big?  I'll try to attempt to put links on the main page. Last time I did do that, the whole site crashed for 4 hours (don't ask me why - the whole front page was inaccessible. I am NOT a tech savvy person so I had to get support from the host to fix it for me.). I'll see if it will hold for the links though!

86

Web site Reviews / Re: Chin Stuff Store

« on: May 09, 2012, 11:39:49 PM »

Thanks!

87

Web site Reviews / Chin Stuff Store

« on: May 09, 2012, 04:31:58 PM »

http://chinchillaparkplace.ca/chinstuffstore//

I've been working out kinks with my store on and off for a while now. I think it is about perfect?
However... I am missing a few pics on some items (will get to those!), but got most pictures updated on my store.  I'll get there. If I am missing anything other than photos, let me know. 

88

Q & A / Re: Second chinchilla?

« on: May 09, 2012, 04:18:45 PM »

There are a lot of ways to introduce chinchillas. Some chins may never get a long, some get a long instantly, some take a little time. Best thing is to have a spare cage in case introductions don't take off right at first. I wouldn't recommend getting a male, unless you've done a lot of research about breeding first and know what you're getting into. With breeding can come a lot of responsibility. You're at a greater risk of troubles happening from breeding (c sections, breech births, hand feeding kits, fighting  when the female is in heat, uterine infections, etc..etc...just examples of things that can happen when you choose to have opposite gendered chins and they may mate/may not.), than just having two same gendered chinchillas as a pair.

I personally find chinchillas DO like the company of another chinchilla. As far as introductions go, the best one by far that has worked 99% of the time for me, has been to introduce chins in a neutral room (a room that neither chinchilla has been in before and has no reason to assert dominance or territorial behavior in.). Usually in the early morning hours, and usually with a quick snip of the whiskers to just an inch in length on the chinchilla who is accustomed to living with you/in your home already. Putting a dust bath in the room and a toy or something for them to bond over/play with together, helps too.

Usually, I monitor the chinchillas for a couple hours this way, and if there is no fur pulling, no chasing, fighting, etc... I will place them in the cage together and monitor again for another hour or two to ensure all is well. If you see fur pulling, chasing, fighting, spraying, then it is best to separate and try another method. I only ever had to separate once using this method over the years, and it was an overly dominant male who wouldn't accept any chinchilla no matter what.

If that doesn't work, there is numerous other methods, but usually that one works incredibly well and is used by quite a few breeders I know for pairing up chinchillas.

89

Health / Re: My Chinchilla's fur is coming out??

« on: May 02, 2012, 12:36:29 AM »

How exactly is her fur coming out? Does it come out when you pick her up? Is she just shedding a lot, or do you have bald spots?
There can be many reasons for fur to come off a chinchilla, all depends on how it is coming off.

What kind of diet are you using right now? Seizures can be a sign of calcium deficiency, thiamine deficiency or low blood sugar level (or heat related if the chinchilla is over heating.). Giving more of an explanation of what is going on, might help narrow down what can be the cause of the problems or if it is a serious nature or something simply fixed by a quick change of diet or circumstances.
Also have you ever taken her to a vet to figure out the cause of the seizures and how long have you had her, that she has been having these problems?

90

Guestbook / Re: I need advice

« on: April 29, 2012, 12:43:08 PM »

Maybe have the vet culture your other pets droppings, to ensure no one else got a parasite? Cultures usually don't cost much.

 Did you know what kind of parasites she had? I am really sorry you lost her. Rectal prolapse can be fixed, but you have to be quick about it and extremely clean. I managed to save a rescue chin who had rectal prolapse once. He got it from his medications he was on when I was fostering him.  
It is so sad you lost your little girl though. My suggestion is to try for a reputable breeder if you are getting another chin. You shouldn't run into this problem again hopefully.

Joann gave good directions on cleaning the cage. If you have any wooden items in there, I would suggest just throwing them out, including wooden shelves. For cleaning you can use bleach mixed with water or use another disinfectant.

Being that you had a chin with parasites, whatever you use, make sure it kills most bacteria and is a disinfectant. Rinse extremely well after cleaning. Good luck with getting your new fur baby.